ABC delves into the world of classic fairy tales with the one-hour primetime drama Once Upon a Time. Season three of the popular series premiered on September 29, 2013.

The cast includes Ginnifer Goodwin as ‘Snow White’/’Mary Margaret,’ Lana Parilla as ‘Evil Queen’/’Regina Mills,’ Jennifer Morrison as ‘Emma Swan,’ Jared S. Gilmore as ‘Henry, Josh Dallas as ‘Prince Charming/David,’ and Colin O’Donoghue as ‘Captain Hook/Killian Jones.’

Robert Carlyle plays ‘Rumplestiltskin’/’Mr. Gold,’ Raphael Sbarge is ‘Jiminy Cricket’/’Dr. Archie Hopper,’ Jamie Dornan is ‘Sheriff Graham,’ Meghan Ory is ‘Red Riding Hood/Ruby,’ Emilie de Ravin is ‘Belle,’ Jamie Chung is ‘Mulan,’ and Michael Raymond-James is ‘Baelfire’/’Neal Cassidy.’

What You Need to Know:

Master storytellers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (Lost, Tron: Legacy) invite everyone to join Emma Swan, Snow White, Prince Charming, Rumplestiltskin, Hook, and the Evil Queen Regina as they travel through a portal on the Jolly Roger in an effort to reach Neverland and rescue Henry.

Welcome to Storybrooke, Maine, a small town that probably won’t show up on your GPS, but it’s a magical place to visit. Reality and myth merged after Emma broke Regina’s curse, which had deprived the fairytale characters of their memories and trapped them in our modern world. When they finally regained their identities, our heroes were dismayed to discover that they weren’t transported back to Fairy Tale Land. To make matters worse, Rumplestiltskin – aka Mr. Gold – decided to escalate his power struggle with Regina by introducing magic into the town.

But this is our world, and magic always has a tendency to yield unfathomable consequences.

Nothing is more important than family, and these characters’ bonds are as strong as the line between good and evil is blurry. Mary Margaret and Emma – mother and daughter reunited — were sucked into a portal that transported them to what was left of Fairy Tale Land. It was there that they met Mulan and Aurora, who helped them evade Cora and Hook and enabled them to travel back to Storybrooke, reuniting them with Emma’s father, David, and her son, Henry.

But Cora and Hook found another portal into town, where Cora set about reuniting with her own daughter, Regina. Cora then attempted to find Mr. Gold’s dagger in a play to take him down and become the Dark One herself. Hook had also aspired to kill Mr. Gold, not for power but for revenge. And Mr. Gold set out to find his son, Bae, which he did, in New York, with the aid of Emma and Henry.

Much to everyone’s surprise, Bae turned out to be Emma’s former love, Neal, and Henry’s father.

Back in Storybrooke, Mary Margaret did something completely against her nature – she used dark magic to kill Cora – causing her own heart to darken. And Greg Mendell – who saw magic in the town as a boy and believes Regina knows where he can find his father – along with his partner, Tamara, planned to eradicate magic completely from our world using a trigger that Regina had planted within her curse. During the struggle to save Storybrooke, Neal was shot by Tamara and fell through a portal to the Enchanted Forest – barely alive – where he was found by Aurora, Mulan, and Prince Phillip.

Although their plan was foiled, Greg and Tamara kidnapped Henry and brought him through a portal to their “Home Office,” believing that they might still be able to use him to destroy magic in all worlds. With the aid of Hook and his ship, Emma, Mary Margaret, David, Mr. Gold and Regina used the last magic bean to follow Henry, Greg and Tamara… to Neverland.

First order of business this season: save Henry. But Neverland is a much darker place than you remember, and in order for our heroes to accomplish their mission, they’ll have to face a foe more powerful than the Dark One himself. What does Peter Pan want with Henry? Can our heroes put aside their differences and work together? Will Aurora, Mulan, and Prince Phillip be able to nurse Neal back to health and reunite him with his family? New fairytale characters will be revealed and old acquaintances will be revisited. So think of a wonderful thought… because our Neverland’s going to be a fever dream that just won’t break.

Interviews: Emilie de Ravin
Jennifer Morrison
Robert Carlyle
Colin O’Donoghue and Michael Raymond-James